Behind every great man is a great woman, yes. But in Ming Lee‘s case – Atlanta-based hairstylist and creator of hair salon, SnobLife Studio – a great man’s motivational words pushed her to follow her dreams. “My dad passed away the year before I started doing hair,” she says. “He always told me, ‘Why don’t you get your license? You went to school.’ So once he passed on December 17, 2009, I made it my mission and goal in 2010 to start doing hair.”

Just over four years ago, Lee was stressing about paying her rent and working two jobs just to stay afloat. With no set plan of action and barely any clientele, she set out to build the lifestyle she was destined to have in the same way many of us do: through trial and error. But soon after a couple of ah-ha moments, she figured out what worked for her, invested in herself financially and flipped her vision into an empire.

Nowadays, Ming Lee is riding high, reaching über success with the help of a social media explosion on Instagram and Twitter and her infamous “Ming Curls.” She quickly went from hairstylist to selling extensions to owning her own salon, and that’s really just the beginning.

We recently caught up with Ming Lee to find how she manages her explosive success, how she made her first million dollars and what’s next for her SnobLife brand.